Israel's Moderates Quiet As Usual

Way back in the day (meaning mid-June), I wrote about how Obama's Cairo speech, and mid-east policy in general, was affecting the Israeli populace.

But Obama's loudly-proclaimed intentions have led to a more clearly defined divide among the Israeli people: those who value America's support above all else and those who are committed to settlement of the West Bank above all else.

But the issue of settlements may be a smart litmus test of Israel's intentions, because it draws a clear line between those in Israel and among its supporters abroad who support a two-state solution, and those who don't. Obama is betting the ayes have it.

Basically Obama just went ahead and put that out there, and now he's sitting back and waiting for internal strife in Israel to make Netanyahu more agreeable to a two-state solution.

And according to this article in today's Haaretz, that internal strife is bringing the settlement issue further into the limelight than it's been since The Disengagement in 2005. Basically, this latest development is that Israeli settlers are accusing the Israeli government of "colluding" with leftist Israelis against them. Notice how many times I used the word "Israelis" in that last sentence? That's because this argument is a family one. Leftist Israelis are pretty happy about Obama butting in to force the government's hand, but rightist Israelis would thank everyone to please mind their own business. I'm sure this is why the right wingers feel they're being colluded against but if the government is colluding with anybody, it's the settlers.

From this morning's article:

Settler representatives met with Defense Ministry officials earlier in the week in a bid to discuss a negotiated compromise on removing West Bank outposts. The state is interested in gaining settler acquiescence to voluntarily evacuate the outposts in exchange for the building of new neighborhoods in existing settlements, Army Radio reported.

Officials in the Yesha council of settlers told Army Radio they have no intention of discussing the voluntary removal of outposts.

This whole dog and pony show is really amusing to those of us who know that the settlers are completely dependent on the government for their ability to settle anywhere in the West Bank. So the government arguing about whether they should or should live on this or that hilltop is just for show. It's a delay tactic, wrapped and tied with a bow, direct from Netanyahu to Obama.

But anyway, back to that internal strife I was talking about. The theory was that Obama wanted to see whether the majority of Israelis supported settlements more, or U.S. support more. Both right and left have been more active, vocal, and organized of late. But it's not yet clear which of them can claim greater numbers.

Lieberman Pulls an Olmert

Israeli Foreign Minster Avigdor Lieberman announced today that if charges are filed against him for bribery and fraud, he will resign his appointment as foreign minster and as head of the Israel Beiteinu party. Wait, what year is this? Because in summer of 2008, Israel's Prime Minister also agreed to step down amid accusations of bribery and fraud.

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman responded Monday to the police announcement that it would recommend an indictment against him, saying that if he could go back, he would do everything exactly the same.

Of course he would. The resignation is nothing- he doesn't need to work anymore. He is accused of, "setting up a chain of front companies and bank accounts that allowed him to take in more than NIS 10 million."

He said that during the previous night he had "gone over the events of recent years, and I am at peace with everything that I've done. If I had to go back, I would do it all exactly the same. I would behave the same way if there was a second chance."

The only question left is why a ten year investigation just happened to turn up enough evidence for an indictment a few months after Lieberman's appointment as foreign minister. It's like someone had this dirt on him and promised to make it go away if he would stay out of the spotlight. But no, Netanyahu had to appoint someone as foreign minister who was referred to as having "erased in 20 minutes years of efforts to advance the peace process" between Israel and the Palestinians.

Lieberman's Hand Fully in Cookie Jar

The police are just about ready to ask for an indictment against Israel's Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, for fraud. The investigation has been going on for about three years, and the police finally feel they have enough evidence to prove Lieberman:

managed a well-oiled business machine through front men even after taking public office, and made millions of dollars.

Lieberman and his associates are suspected of establishing several companies, some of them shell companies, in order to launder millions of shekels and funnel them into his own pockets. Police have investigated whether Lieberman continued running these alleged operations even after becoming a public official.

In addition, police believe Lieberman and his associates tried to obstruct the police investigation in at least three separate instances, by changing the names of companies he allegedly established in Cyprus after he suspected the police had identified them.

Last summer the big fraud case was against the Prime Minister at the time, Ehud Olmert, over which he agreed to step down. I'm pretty happy about this because, as you may know, Lieberman is the politician I have mentioned many times as advocating forced segregation of Jews and Arabs and forcing Israeli Arabs to choose between taking an oath of fealty to the Zionist state or deportation.


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Gay Kids Attacked in Tel Aviv

I am astounded to read this piece of news. A masked gunman walked into a gay youth center in Tel Aviv and opened fire, killing two and wounding 15. This is particularly shocking because Tel Aviv is considered "the gay capital of the Middle East" and for good reason. There is a large and thriving gay community there, with gay pride held every June with no problems. Protesters strongly oppose a gay pride march and festival in Jerusalem, due to the higher number of religious residents there, but the Tel Aviv festival has not had such opposition from the right. In fact, in December of last year, Israel was one of the 66 countries that signed the UN's declaration decriminalizing homosexuality. The document recognized the human rights of gays.

What is also interesting about this piece of news is that the word "terrorist" was not used. If a Palestinian gunman had done the damage, or was suspected of having done it, reporters wouldn't call him a "gunman," they would call him an "armed terrorist." Even when acting alone, such as last summer's "bulldozer terrorist" did, Palestinians who hurt Israelis are almost always referred to as terrorists. But far-right Israelis, even when hurting unarmed civilians for a political aim, are not called terrorists. Another article about the same incident said, "Israel Police said that the incident at the club on Nahmani Street did not have a terror motive." Really? Opening fire on kids at a community center did not have a terror motive?

Because one can't be a terrorist without first being an Arab. At least in Israel.

Anti-Arab Racism Seething in Israel

Israelis generally hate it when people compare their treatment of Palestinians to that of Nazis during the Holocaust, but I'm going to do that now, with good reasons, and with some qualifications.

The Nazis started small, with segregation, with government-sanctioned hatred and distrust of Jews. They didn't start right off with gas chambers, concentration camps, and wholesale murder. If they had, the world would have sat up and took notice immediately. They did it slow, so they could let the world adjust to the idea. "Separate but equal" was how it started in the U.S. but fortunately did not continue in that vein. There is an old adage: if you put a frog into a pot of boiling water, it will jump right out. But if you put a frog in a pot of cold water and slowly make it hotter, the frog will slowly boil to death.

Most Israelis probably don't even realize that this is the direction their country, and their culture, is heading. Most are idealistic, democratic, and share the values of the West. But values of racism and segregation are slowly permeating the culture. Slowly, so that people can accept incidents as isolated rather than as part of a pattern.

But meanwhile, Jewish settlers (with their government's support) take over Palestinian homes and farmland. They beat and sometimes shoot Palestinian farmers and schoolchildren, seldom with any consequences. The government discusses laws like the "Nakba law" that would make it illegal to publicly commemorate the expulsions that resulted in the creation of Israel. Members of parliament openly advocate forced segregation based on race. Palestinian Jerusalemites cannot buy property in West Jerusalem. I could go on, but I won't.

But the most obvious symptom of the pervasive culture of racism that is blooming within Israel is the one you can see on the walls of mosques, schools, bus stops, and everywhere else unwanted Arabs make their home. Graffiti like "gas the Arabs," "death to Arabs," "no Arabs allowed," and more are everywhere.

Please do click this link and see a post on "Lawrence of Cyberia" exhibiting a collection of photos from all over Israel and West Bank bearing these messages. Anyone who wants to deny anti-Arab racism exists at such a level in Israel will say that these are indeed isolated incidents. That the pictures were taken over a period of many years, perhaps, or that the grafitti is removed right away.

But those things aren't true. Out of the 26 photos on the post, I have personally seen 9 examples- either the very piece of graffiti pictured, or a very similar message, in the last year. In fact, several of them I saw last summer and they are still there this summer, a year later.

Gush Katif Residents Clueless, Ironic

Former residents of the Gush Katif settlement in Gaza, which was evacuated in The Disengagement of 2005, ask to go back to their homes, which actually don't exist anymore. Ynet says they protested yesterday at the Kissufim border crossing. Former Gaza settler Ophir Briner says:

the government acted "cruelly" in the aftermath of what he referred to as the "expulsion." Briner said he tells his young children, "We lived in Gush Katif, which is a part of the Land of Israel. We were forced to leave, and now we are waiting to return."

Sucks, doesn't it?

Israel Dismantles Outpost. Sort of.

Haaretz says today that Israel dismantled a small outpost outside of the Kiryat Arba settlement, which had been expanded on Tuesday to include two new families. But the article says, "The settlers are expected to build the outpost again on Wednesday, as is customary following their dismantlement by security forces."

This was after the Youth for Israel movement established 11 new outposts earlier this week.

Also earlier this week, IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi said, "the IDF has not received orders to prepare for the evacuation of outposts in the West Bank." One of the movement's members, Shlomit Amitai, said:

"What we do is like bandaging a mother's wounds," Amitai says, explaining the proverb's meaning. "This empty earth is a wound that must be bandaged with a settlement."

And by "empty earth" she means, "earth currently being cultivated by Palestinian farmers who, as non-Jews, have no rights to the land."

At the beginning of this whole spat with the US over settlements, activists and the blogosphere predicted that Netanyahu would order a few far-flung outposts dismantled, which would inevitably make it into the news and make it look like he was making an effort to stop settlement expansion. And that prediction seems to be all too true.

An opinion column on Ynet today says:

We have to admit that despite the unpleasantness involved in the American reprimands over the unauthorized outposts, this confrontation has several benefits. The Israeli government and its settlers enjoy every moment, as every minute dedicated to the quarrel over the removal of illegal mobile homes in Judea and mobile washrooms in Samaria is a minute that is not devoted to the truly important evacuations.

Besides, the preoccupation with the “illegal outposts” is a good thing, as it implies that all the other settlements are legal; as if alongside the lawbreaking thieves we see legally sound thieves, who rob and steal in line with the rules.

In addition, the outpost festival allows the official Israel to present an image whereby the problem – that is, the enemies of the peace process and of an agreement – has to do with reckless hilltop youth, devoid of any restraints or Ritalin.

What isn't mentioned here is that even these random, youth-initiated, illegal outposts are protected by the army and are sooner or later provided with paved roads, electricity and plumbing by the Israeli government. They literally could not even set up a tent without the support of the IDF. If Netanyahu didn't want them to set up house, there would be no need for a settler-military confrontation, he could simply ignore them. But what he's after is the creation of "facts on the ground", a phrase that become synonymous with Israel's race to populate the West Bank with Jews before the world puts its foot down about the ethnic cleansing of the West Bank.